Taken
by R. Gray
Summary: AU. Harry Potter, aged 5, is taken from his relatives. The world will never be the same again. Rated T as some scenes will have non-explicit descriptions of the aftermath of violence. Re-write and expansion of Kidnapped.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**-The world and characters of Harry Potter are the property of JK Rowling. I'm just playing in her sandbox. Some loose inspiration has been taken from the 'Dahak' series, once again that world and it's characters are the property of David Weber.

**A/N**- Taken is based on my previous story, Kidnapped. Although it is being greatly expanded and re-written. The story outline has been completed and several chapters completed, with quite a number still to go. A sequel is currently planned, with a rough outline currently being worked on.

I'd like to say thanks to 'Deanine' who was kind enough to agree to beta this story for me. Her own work is great and I think that the help she has given me so far with this story has been of major benefit. Any mistakes or problems remaining with it should be considered to be mine.

Reviews and comments are always welcome, but please make it 'constructive' critism. Saying something is wrong or that you don't like it without explaining 'why' doesn't help.

Now... On with the story :)

**TAKEN**

**Chapter 1**

**Wednesday 28****th**** August 1985**

She hadn't seen him for almost a week now. Truth be told, it wasn't all that unusual for him to drop out of sight for a couple of days, but this was longer than usual, and she was starting to worry.

'School starts today. I could go and get my shopping and see him on his way there.

'Yes, that would work. Sort out two things at once and settle my nerves without having to go and ruffle and feathers or cause anyone any alarm.'

Having decided that, she set about finishing up her breakfast.

* * *

Albus Dumbledore, Grand Sorcerer, Order of Merlin First Class, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was in the middle of a meeting in his office at Hogwarts.

His three current Heads of House were interviewing his preferred candidate for Potions Professor and Head of Slytherin, Severus Snape, when they were interrupted by the fireplace suddenly flaring up in green flames.

'Albus! Albus! Are you there Albus! I need to speak to you!'

Quickly getting up and moving to the fireplace, he got down on his knees, thinking yet again that he really should speak to someone about coming up with a more convenient way of communicating with others over a distance.

'Arabella, it is good to hear from you, but I am afraid that I am in the middle of an important staff meeting at the moment. I will of course call you back as soon as we are finished here.'

'No Albus. Your meeting will have to wait. He's missing Albus! I haven't seen him for over a week now, and I've spent the last day making enquiries and haven't been able to find him. I'm worried Albus; something is wrong.'

Albus Dumbledore paled, both mind and body frozen in shock for the first time in decades.

'I will be right over; please hold the connection while I arrange matters here.'

Getting back to his feet, he turned to face the others. Plans already starting to form in his mind. A single glance was enough for him to know that three of the four had no idea of the seriousness of the situation. Minerva however, both knew Arabella and her role in watching the boy, and her face already showed that she had reached the obvious conclusion.

'Albus!' He moved quickly to head off the dressing down he knew Minerva was about to launch into.

'Please Minerva. I see that you have recognised who I was talking to and know who she was talking about, but we must move quickly.

'For the rest of you, that was Arabella Figg, a squib of my acquaintance who was a member of the Order during the last war. After the war, I asked her to keep an eye on young Harry Potter for me. From what she has just said, he would appear to have gone missing somehow. I will have to go and make enquiries beyond those which Arabella has been able to make on her own.

'I assume, Minerva, that you will insist on accompanying me.

'Severus, I realise that you would prefer not to become involved in this matter, but I believe that your talents may be of use in enabling us to ascertain what has happed quickly and efficiently.

'Filius, I would ask you to find Alastor Moody for me. Please ask him to meet me at No.12 Wisteria Walk, Little Whinging in Surrey. While he may be retired, his presence will be of benefit should be find ourselves needing to involve the DMLE at a later date.

'Pomona, I must ask that you stay here and see to the needs of the school while we are gone. Please contact Poppy and ensure that she is prepared in the eventuality that we have need of her services. If young Harry requires treatment for any reason, I would prefer that it takes place here rather than in St. Mungo's.

'I would prefer that you do not speak of this to anyone else for the time being. Hopefully this is all a simple misunderstanding and we can get it all sorted out without involving anyone else.

'Now! Shall we get on our way?'

* * *

Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall and Severus Snape stepped out of the fireplace into the small, slightly shabby looking living room of the small house in Wisteria Walk.

Seeing the almost hysterical look on her friends face, Minerva quickly intervened.

'Why don't we go and get some tea and biscuits together Ara? I'm sure you have a lot to tell us and the telling will go easier with something to eat and drink.

'We'll also need to discus exactly what I'm going to change our clothing into before we leave here. There's no point in us gathering attention by walking around wearing robes.'

* * *

Twenty minutes later Alastor Moody and Filius Flitwick were making their way down Wisteria Walk when the door to No.12 opened and three people stepped out to meet them.

'Alastor, Filius, you made good time. Arabella is going to stay here in case one of her friends should come to her with more information. She is also our closest floo connection should we have need of it. I will brief you on what we know so far while we walk.

The five of them started walking in the direction Albus indicated.

'Now, as you all already know, when the Potters were killed, I made the decision to place him with his Aunt on his mother's side. It was quite simply the safest place I could find for him.'

Alastor Moody interrupted him. 'You've never explained to me just how exactly living with muggles keeps him safe Albus. I'd have thought you would have wanted him behind a full set of wards.'

'The reason he is safe here, is that his mother's sacrifice allowed me to raise a set of Blood Wards for him. But in order to do so, he must live with a blood relation of his mother. His Aunt Petunia along with her son, are the only ones available.

'I asked Arabella to keep an eye on Harry for me, and arranged for her to move into the closest house I could find for her at the time. The reports I have received from her indicated that his Aunt and her husband were not particularly happy to have Harry living with them, and that Harry was not particularly happy to be with them. They did take him in however, and that has afforded him a level of protection from Voldemort's followers that I simply could not provide for him anywhere else. Not even within Hogwarts.

'According to Arabella, she has not seen Harry for over a week now. This is unusual, as he is normally kept busy by his Aunt during the day, and can normally be found gardening, cleaning the windows, sweeping the path and driveway and so on. Arabella has established a schedule which sees her go past the Dursley's a couple of times a day and until this last week, she has normally seen Harry at least every other day for the last 2 years.

'Both Harry and his cousin turned five this summer. This is the age at which muggle children start their schooling. As such, Arabella expected to see them on their way to school yesterday morning. While she saw Dudley, she did not see Harry. Nor did she see him when she returned to look for him at the end of the school day. After making some discrete enquiries via some friends, she received word this morning that Harry was not registered to begin at the school along with Dudley. Nor has he been registered at any of the other local schools.

'My intention at this point, is to check the house in Privet Drive for Harry, if he is present I will question his Aunt and Uncle as to why he is not attending school.

'If he is not present we will attempt to determine where he is.

'I would ask that Filius and Minerva remain outside the house to search the gardens and surrounding area and also prevent any interference with the neighbours.

'Alastor, you would be best suited to searching the house itself. Afterwards I would ask you to join me in questioning Petunia and Vernon if I am not finished by then.

'Severus, given your prior acquaintance with Petunia, it may be best if you question Vernon if he is present. I will question Petunia myself.

'Hopefully this is a false alarm, and we shall simply discover that they have decided to home school Harry for some reason.'

'Albus?' the question came from Moody.

'You said you raise a set of Blood Wards based on his mother's sacrifice correct?

'He has to live with a blood relation, which means you had to have used his Aunt to anchor the wards in place.

'So why can't I see them?'


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer**-The world and characters of Harry Potter are the property of JK Rowling. I'm just playing in her sandbox. Some loose inspiration has been taken from the 'Dahak' series, once again that world and it's characters are the property of David Weber.

**Chapter 2**

**Wednesday 28****th**** August 1985**

Albus Dumbledore stared at Moody, shock evident on his face.

'No wards? But I placed them myself. How can there be no wards?' he finally managed to say.

After a minute, he gave himself an almost visible shake and started walking again.

'This changes things a little. Even if Harry is not in the house right now, as long as he considered the house to be his home, the wards would remain in place.

'Since the wards are gone, he must no longer consider this to be his home. Therefore, whether he is here or not, it is no longer safe for him to remain here and we will be taking him with us if we find him here after all. If he is not present, we must find out where he is as quickly as possible. So he can be retrieved and taken to a safe place.

'Minerva, since the wards are down, I would like you and Filius to establish a set of Muggle Repelling wards and basic alarm wards around the property before you begin searching the grounds and immediate area for Harry.

'Alastor, Severus and myself will search the house and question the occupants.'

By now they had reached Number 4 and Minerva and Filius glanced at each other before Minerva set off towards the back garden, while Filius drew his wand and started casting.

The other three carried on without pause towards the door.

'Do we knock?' asked Severus as they neared the door.

His only answer was the sight of Albus drawing his wand and the door springing open.

He nearly passed it by without checking it in detail. After all, it was only a small cupboard, the kind of place you store the cleaning materials in, and maybe hung the odd raincoat on the inside of the door for those odd rainy days when you needed to run outside for something. Not much chance of a five year old boy being stuffed into a cupboard, was there...

Two minutes after opening the door he knew differently. He made his way into the living room. Glancing around he saw right away that it was no different than the other rooms in the house. Plenty to show that two adults and son lived here. Absolutely no sign that a fourth person was also supposed to be here.

'What's she said so far then?' Moody asked.

'She insists that the boy has run away.' Albus replied. 'Her attempts to explain why he has done so, and why they have not informed the police are unconvincing however.'

'I'm not surprised.' Moody responded. 'The boy isn't in the house, neither is anything which looks even vaguely as if it belongs to him. No photos of him either.

'If there was anything of his here, it either went with him. Which isn't consistent with him running away. Or they've gotten rid of it since he left.

'I checked with Minerva as well. They haven't found anything outside.

'I have found something which concerns me however Albus. They did a good job with the cleaning, but not good enough. I've found some blood stains in the cupboard in the hallway. They need tested to see who they belong to.'

Albus was already reaching into his robes. Withdrawing a small vial, he held it out.

'If you would Severus. This should allow you to confirm if the blood stains match young Harry.

Now Petunia, shall we start again? What has happened to Harry? **Legilimens!**'

* * *

Amelia Bones, Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, was sitting at her desk, working her way through the daily pile of paperwork with came with the office. Six months into the job, and she was only now getting on top of everything her predecessor had let slip. She still found it hard to believe that she had actually got the job at times. Although, there were times when she thought that her enemies in the Ministry had let her get it so they could ruin her by working to make her fail.

'Madame Bones.' her thoughts were interrupted by the voice of her secretary.

'Retired Master Auror Moody is here asking to see you. He says it's urgent.'

'Alastor Moody? Well, if he says it's urgent you'd better show him in.' she replied.

She waited as he was shown in, frowning slightly as she took in the slightly rumpled clothes, the slight, barely visible wince as he took each step which showed that he hadn't had his false leg off for far too long a period of time and the tightness around his eyes which showed he was seriously worried about something. She waited until the door was closed and the privacy and security wards were activated.

'Ok Alastor. What's got you so worried?' she asked.

'I'm really sorry to do this to you Amelia.' Moody replied. 'But I need you, Rufus and two of your best, most trustworthy and discrete Auror's to come with me.

'We've got a serious problem.'


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer**-The world and characters of Harry Potter are the property of JK Rowling. I'm just playing in her sandbox. Some loose inspiration has been taken from the 'Dahak' series, once again that world and it's characters are the property of David Weber.

**A/N -** This chapter is un-beta'd as yet, so may see some minor editing once that has been done. I decided to go ahead and post it rather than wait though.

**Chapter 3**

**Friday 30****th**** August 1985**

She swept into her private office at the back of 10 Downing Street, her sheer presence sufficient to ensure that everyone in the room was instantly aware that she was in charge here.

The Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland took her seat and looked across her desk at the people who had called this meeting. With a glance at her aide, she indicated that refreshments were not on the menu for this meeting as yet.

'So, what is so important that I have had to rearrange my afternoons schedule to see you on such short notice?' she finally asked.

Amelia Bones glanced at the two men who had accompanied her to this meeting. Both of them looked uncomfortable with the situation, and neither of them was showing any inclination to open the conversation.

'Madame Prime Minister, my colleagues and I have called this meeting because of a problem which has arisen, which has the potential to cause major problems for both of our worlds.

'A child has gone missing.' She paused to gather her thoughts.

'The three most important people in the government of Wizarding Britain have called an emergency meeting over a missing child?' the Prime Minister interjected. 'Why do I get the feeling that this is not a normal child?'

'That is correct Prime Minister,' Amelia continued, 'The child is perhaps the most famous person within the Wizarding World. He certainly can claim that title within Wizarding Britain at least. His name is Harry Potter.'

The Prime Minister interrupted her. 'That name sounds familiar, something to do with that terrorist business a few years back I believe.'

'Harry Potter was the child who somehow survived the Killing Curse, and in the process destroyed the terrorist leader, ending the conflict.' Amelia replied.

'His parents had been killed however, and the Chief Warlock here arranged for him to be placed in the custody of his mother's sister. He also arranged a series of wards and other measures to protect him and his family from any attempted retribution by the Dark Lord's followers.

'Two days ago, Albus received a call to alert him that Harry appeared to be missing. He, along with some associates, went to investigate and shortly afterwards they contacted myself to begin an official investigation.'

Amelia stopped to gather her thoughts before continuing.

'Our investigation so far has discovered a catalogue of mistakes, almost entirely on our side of things, which resulted in the protections that were put in place for Harry being compromised and eventually negated.

'The first mistake was in placing Harry with his Aunt. It was known that the two sisters were not close, and Albus was advised prior to leaving Harry there that the couple did not appear to be particularly nice people. He chose to ignore that advice on the assumption that family ties would prevail.

'The second mistake was in assuming that the wards that were put in place to protect Harry were sufficient. In practice, the wards only protected him from threats of a magical nature. Threats of a non-magical nature were not covered.

'The third mistake was that the agent Albus put in place to keep an eye on Harry was too far away. She was not close enough to the family to keep a close, daily, eye on what was happening. In addition, Albus did not pay sufficient attention to the reports she sent him.

'Our investigation is still ongoing, with both of Harry's Aunt and Uncle still undergoing questioning, but we have confirmed that Harry was abused. Starting from the very day he was placed with them.'

The Prime Minister lifted her hand slightly.

'Wait right there. How can that happen? Surely you had people checking on him? For that matter, surely WE had people checking on him. Witness Protection, Child Protection, Social Services, surely someone should have been looking in on him!' The Prime Minister's voice had risen very slightly towards the end.

Albus Dumbledore lifted his head and spoke up.

'That would be the forth mistake I made Madame Prime Minister.

'We do have both Witness Protection and Child Protection services in the magical world, although they are not large departments. I bypassed them, cut them out of the loop altogether. I chose not to inform them of young Harry's whereabouts and refused to allow them access to him. I did not trust that they would be able to keep the secret of his location from those who would have been looking to harm him. I still believe that decision to have been the correct one at the time.

'Unfortunately, in hiding him from the magical world, I also hid him from the authorities of the non-magical world. Which meant that the various Departments from your world, who would normally have been looking out for him and would have spotted the signs of abuse, simply did not know he existed.'

'I see, I presume that your presence here means that he has not simply run away. And that, while you have been unable to locate him, you believe him to be still alive.' The Prime Minister commented.

'Yes Ma'am. On questioning Vernon Dursley, Harry's uncle, we discovered that he _sold_ Harry.' Amelia replied.

'What!' A look of shock appeared on the Prime Minister's face, before rapidly being replaced with anger. 'A child, who just happens to be the most famous child of your world, is _sold_ here in the UK, and it has taken you _two days_ to bring it to my attention. Tell me, are you people naturally this incompetent or do you have to work at it?' She paused and visibly calmed herself. 'Never mind, continue please Madame Bones.'

'Our information so far, is that Vernon Dursley made a new acquaintance earlier this year at his local golf club. Over the next few months this man gradually led the conversation in the direction he wanted.

'Nine days ago, Harry Potter was sold to this man for £9,000 in cash. Since then, both Harry and the man have disappeared completely.

'The man appears to be a complete unknown to the magical authorities of Europe, and we have found no signs of either him or Harry within Magical Britain.'

'So you are saying it was a non-magical who took the boy.' The Prime Minister interrupted.

Albus Dumbledore responded. 'The man who paid Vernon Dursley and removed young Harry from the house was almost certainly non-magical. I have confirmed that the wards on the property did not fall completely until six days ago. Three days after Harry was taken. If the man who took Harry had been magical and had intended Harry harm, the wards would have prevented him from entering. If he was magical and did not intend Harry harm, they would have alerted me to his presence.

'What remains unknown however, is who currently has Harry and what they intend for him'

The Prime Minister considered what she had heard. 'OK, I understand you have a missing child. And that you believe that he has been taken by a non-magical person or with the assistance of a non-magical person.

'What I don't understand is why you are here in my office today? Surely this is a case for your Auror's, perhaps with the assistance of some of the local non-magical police?'

Her three guests glanced at each other again. Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic, clearly didn't want to be there and just wanted to leave. Amelia Bones didn't know what to say and just wanted to get back to doing a job she knew how to do.

Which left Albus Dumbledore to speak up once again. 'I am afraid it is not as simple as that Madame Prime Minister.

'If this were any other child, then we would indeed, not be here today.

'This, however, is Harry Potter we are talking about. The-Boy-Who-Lived! He has a status which is unprecedented for a living person within our world.

'By surviving the Killing Curse and causing Voldemort's downfall, he has become an icon to our world. Parents and children tell each other stories about Harry Potter. They attribute great abilities to him.

'Imagine if you will, someone with the fame of Princess Diana and both of her children combined. Now imagine they have been kidnapped, and the kidnapper was French. How do you think the public would react?'

'I see. Just how bad do you think it could be?' The Prime Minister asked.

'You are aware of Voldemort and of the deaths and damage he caused in your world.' Albus replied. 'Unfortunate as those deaths and that damage were, they were essentially collateral damage.

'Voldemort was not strong enough to fight you at the same time as he was fighting us, and he was aware of that fact. So he _limited_ his followers in what they were allowed to do to your world. It wouldn't have lasted, he would have moved against you as soon as he felt strong enough, but it did shield you from the worst.

'If, or rather, when this gets out. We face the very real risk of all out war between our worlds.

'Both the Light and Neutral factions within our world are going to want to take your world apart to find Harry. The Dark faction will also want to find him for their own ends, but they will also quite happily take advantage of the situation to wreck havoc and indulge themselves.

'In the best case scenario, we will find Harry quickly and in good health and we can manage the situation while things settle down.

'In the worst case scenario, in which Harry dies before we can find him. The Statute of Secrecy will be broken and we end up in a magical versus non-magical war which will make all previous wars in either of our worlds look like pillow fights between friends.

'To be blunt, we need to find Harry as quickly as possible and we need to be able to our people that you and your government are giving us your full co-operation and providing every resource available to you.

'And then we need to pray that it is enough to stop the explosion that is almost certain to be heading our way.'


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer**-The world and characters of Harry Potter are the property of JK Rowling. I'm just playing in her sandbox. Some loose inspiration has been taken from the 'Dahak' series, once again that world and it's characters are the property of David Weber.

**A/N -** This chapter is un-beta'd as yet, so may see some minor editing once that has been done. I decided to go ahead and post it rather than wait though.

**Chapter 4**

**Monday 2nd ****September 1985**

**BOY-WHO-LIVED MISSING!**

In a shocking statement this morning at the Ministry, the Minister announced that Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, is missing.

According to the Minister, young Harry was last seen by his family on Wednesday the 21st of August. Although he was not reported missing until just three days ago when he was due to start school. A picture of the man he left the family with can be found on page 2. This man has not been seen since and is believed to be involved with Harry's disappearance.

In a stunning turn of events, the Minister revealed that it is not believed that Harry Potter ran away or was kidnapped. Instead, the Auror's have discovered that he was 'SOLD' by his Aunt and Uncle to the man who took Harry from their house.

It has been discovered that Vernon and Petunia Dursley have a pathological fear and hatred of magic, and transferred that fear and hatred onto Harry Potter from the very day he was placed into their care.

They treated Harry with fear, hatred and contempt from the start, and this culminated in them accepting an offer for him to be taken off their hands in exchange for money.

The Minister has said that a team of Auror's has been put in charge of looking for Harry, and has asked everyone to assist them in any way they are asked to do so.

After the Minister had given his statement, Madame Bones of the DMLE answered some questions for the press before finishing up with the following statement.

'What has happened, occurred due to a combination of errors that took place primarily within the magical world.

'The decision to place Mr. Potter with the Dursley's was made, against the advice of Professor Minerva McGonagall, by the Chief Warlock, Albus Dumbledore.

'The Chief Warlock was the person who decided to keep Mr. Potter's location from our Child Protection Services. The safeguards that he put in place to hide Mr. Potter from those in our world who might wish him harm served to hide him from the Ministry.

'The Chief Warlock also failed to make Mr. Potter's whereabouts known to the muggle authorities, assuming that the Dursley's would do so. As such, the muggle authorities had no idea that Mr. Potter was living with his Aunt and Uncle, never mind that he might be in need of protection from them.

'The muggles are as horrified and angered about what has occurred as we are, and have consented to the setting up of a joint investigation under the command of Master Auror Alastor Moody who has agreed to come out of retirement specifically to lead this effort. His one and ONLY task will be to locate and return Harry Potter to us.

'Both the Minister of Magic and the muggle Prime Minister have given me guarantees that this investigation has top priority, and that every resource that Master Auror Moody requires will be made available to him.

'If anyone feels they have any information, no matter how small, or how insignificant they believe it may be. Please contact Master Auror Moody's office.

'Now, I understand that many of you will be feeling angry and upset about the news you have heard today. I must ask, however, that everyone remains calm.

'Do Not Blame All The Muggles!

'We do not yet know who has taken Mr. Potter, or who has him now.

'All we know, is that he left the house in the company of a man who was a muggle. That man may have been acting for himself or on behalf of others. Those others may have been other muggles, or they may have been wizards or witches. We do not yet know.

'Please give us the time we need to find those responsible for taking Mr. Potter so we can bring them to justice.'

_For more on this story – see Page 2_

_For the full transcript of the statement – see page 5_

_For the known biography of Harry Potter – see Page 8_

_For the Biography of Albus Dumbledore – see Page 9_

_For the Biography of Master Auror Moody – See Page 11_

_What the muggle media are saying – see Page 13_


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**Wednesday 4****th**** September 1985**

It was a very nice restaurant. One of those upmarket places which specialised in superb, over-priced food, and which provided absolute privacy for its customers as part of the bill. Even the Minister, with his salary, couldn't afford to dine here on a regular basis. Which was at least a small part of the reason he was so happy to accept whenever his host invited him.

The dinner was finished now and it was time for their coffee. Time, in other words, for them to discuss whatever it was Lucius Malfoy wanted Cornelius to do for him this time. This after all, is how people like Lucius did business. Toiling for hours in an office, going over paperwork, following other people's orders, just wasn't for the likes of him.

No, people like Lucius Malfoy, took people out for a meal. And then after the meal was over they would discuss what they wanted done. And once an agreement was reached, they would shake hands and part ways. And if a little something should happen to somehow transfer itself between vaults the next day.

Well, that was simply the way the world worked. Wasn't it?

The conversation till now had been fairly run of the mill. They had discussed the Magical Creatures legislation which was currently being put together, and Lucius had suggested a few idea's for what could be included.

They had also talked about Lucius's idea for increasing the tax revenue by increasing the tax paid by the muggleborn on goods and money conversion.

But Cornelius was well aware from experience that Lucius didn't raise the important subjects until towards the end of their time together. And if he wasn't mistaken, that time was now.

'I was greatly surprised by the articles in the Prophet on Monday regarding young Harry Potter.' Lucius started out saying. 'I was even more surprised that my, _good friend_, Cornelius had not kept me informed of such an important event.' his eyes glittered dangerously, and Cornelius was reminded that his friend could be a truly dangerous man when he chose to be.

'Ah, well...' Cornelius stammered, 'you see, we were so busy trying to find the boy and work out just what exactly had happened...'

Lucius cut him off.

'No matter, I am sure that you will endeavour to keep me informed on a more, _timely_, basis in the future.' he said. 'After all, it would be, unfortunate... if I had to develop other, more reliable, sources of information within the Ministry.'

Cornelius swallowed, he was well aware that it was only the influence that Lucius brought to bear on his behalf that had allowed him to become and remain Minister. If Lucius ever withdrew that influence, he wouldn't last a fortnight.

'I'm sure you won't need to do that Lucius. I can assure you that I will do everything I can to make sure you are kept fully informed in the future.' Cornelius quickly said.

Lucius merely looked at him, his eyes hard, before finally responding.

'See that you do Cornelius. See that you do...

'Now, why don't you tell me how much of what the Prophet printed was correct, and just what the Ministry is planning on doing about the situation.'

'Well, the articles themselves were true enough as far as they go.' Cornelius began. 'Although they didn't have all the details. We didn't want to upset people any more than we had to after all.'

Lucius motioned with his hand for him to continue.

'What we didn't tell the media, is that the boy was regularly beaten and abused by his Aunt and Uncle. And that he was severely beaten and badly injured by his uncle the day before he _sold_ him.

'Obviously, we don't want that to be widely known. It would just cause hysteria and an anti-muggle backlash which would be difficult to deal with.'

'Of course, we wouldn't want that now would we.' murmured Lucius.

'As for what we are doing now.' Cornelius continued. 'As the Prophet said, Alastor Moody has been put in charge of the search.'

'Yes, I was quite surprised that you named Moody to lead the search.' said Lucius.

'Amelia insisted, said he is still one of the best and was already up to date with the situation.' Cornelius replied.

'Of course,' said Lucius, 'and that he is Dumbledore's man surely wouldn't hurt either.'

'But...' Cornelius was obviously lost.

'I am merely saying that it was Dumbledore who placed the boy with those _muggles_, he was under Dumbledore's protection while those _muggles_ supposedly beat, abused and sold him, and now it is one of Dumbledore's followers who is leading the search for the boy.

'Curious how it all revolves around Dumbledore, isn't it.'

'Ah, well now... when you put it that way.' began Cornelius.

'What does surprise me,' Lucius interrupted him, 'is that Dumbledore appears to be unable to track the boy.

'I would have expected him to have had at least a couple of methods of tracking such an important child.

'After all, parents normally have a tracking charm of some description on their children, and the Boy-Who-Lived would surely warrant more than a simply charm.'

'He did mention something along those lines.' Cornelius stated.

'Oh...' Lucius replied.

'He said he had several methods of tracking the boy in place. But none of them appear to be working at the moment.' Cornelius continued.

'How convenient.' said Lucius.

'He did say that one of them confirms the boy is alive, but it doesn't give a location for him.

'He told Moody that he would work on it to try and get it to work properly.'

'So what else is the Ministry doing about this?' Lucius asked.

'Well, Moody's been allocated an office, obviously. And a couple of Auror's will be assigned to work with him in the next couple of days or so. The three of them will work alongside the muggles in trying to find the boy.' Cornelius answered.

'Beyond that, no decisions have been made as yet.'

'I see...' Lucius began. 'You know Cornelius, it occurs to me that this entire situation is Dumbledore's mess.

'Why shouldn't it be left to Dumbledore to sort out himself?'

'What do you mean?' asked Cornelius.

'If this were any other child, the Ministry would not be involved beyond allocating a single Auror to investigate.' Lucius explained. 'The family of the child would be expected to search for and find the child themselves.

'But this is Dumbledore. He's using you to make use of Ministry resources to do something he should be doing himself.'

'Ah...' Cornelius said. 'I see what you mean.'

'Yes,' Lucius continued, 'I am certain that Dumbledore will be more than capable of finding the boy on his own. Assigning Ministry resources to the search would simply be wasteful of both time and money.'


End file.
